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Work on upgrading MCH progressing

Thiruvananthapuram: The Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) is preparing for changes ahead as its upgrade under the Rs.120-crore Prime Minister’s Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) progresses rapidly.

The construction and civil works are expected to be completed by June 2009. The hospital authorities are planning the tedious process of shifting various departments and labs in the main block to make way for the renovation.

The first of a series of changes planned is the shifting of the blood bank and the main laboratories to a three-storey building opposite the casualty. The building had earlier been earmarked for setting up a trauma care division, but that plan was abandoned as linking it and the casualty using a ramp was declared unfeasible. Under the renovation plan, a combined casualty and trauma-care division will come up in the main block after shifting the blood bank, the psychiatry department and the ENT theatre in stages.

The blood bank will be the first to move. After that, the authorities propose to start the work in the cleared space for the construction of the trauma-care division. Though the government had set October 31 as the deadline for shifting the blood bank, the delay in civil works and electrification has forced the authorities to extend the time by another month. The building opposite the casualty will now house the blood bank, the centralised laboratory and the radiology diagnostics division. The ground floor will house all radio diagnostic equipment, including the new MRI machine and CT scan.

The blood bank will occupy the first floor and the third floor will have the combined biochemistry, pathology and microbiology labs.